Five days after the Pensacola City Council's budget analyst sent a resignation letter to the council after the mayor's office raised concerns over his City Council candidacy, Butch Hansen has rescinded his letter and will remain a city employee.

Hansen, who has served as the council's independent budget analyst for six months, sent a letter to City Council members Friday saying he was resigning his current position as strategic budget planner because of his candidacy for the City Council.

Hansen filed to run for the District 6 seat on June 11.

However, Hansen told the News Journal on Wednesday that after meeting with City Council President Gerald Wingate and City Administrator Eric Olson he had decided to withdraw his resignation.

In his resignation letter, Hansen said "city administration" told him a Human Resource policy that allows city employees to seek public office as long as it did not interfere with their job no longer applied and did not apply to his position.

Hansen added that he was told participating in budget discussions could be viewed as a violation of the city's ethics code because it could be perceived as a benefit to him personally through his political candidacy.

Hansen and Ann Hill are both seeking to replace Councilman Brian Spencer on the City Council as Spencer entered the crowded mayor's race last week.

"How this 'personal political benefit' would be logically applied to elected city officials is unclear," Hansen wrote in his letter. "Although I do not believe that inquiring and gaining knowledge about the details of the proposed city budget, a public document, could benefit me financially, personally or 'politically,' I am taking this action to avoid concern over any perceived or potential ethics code violations that would diminish my effectiveness in support of the City Council, the City Staff and to my candidacy. To the extent it may diminish the City Council's ability to effectively review and approve the proposed budget, I apologize."

Hansen said he walked away from the Wednesday meeting feeling that he had the support of the City Council to continue in his job and with "clarification" from the city on the situation.

"I feel comfortable that I can continue to support the council without feeling like somebody thinks that it's at all unethical to do so and be a candidate at the same time," Hansen said.

Hansen said he was assured that city staff would continue to answer his questions about the budget.

Earlier Wednesday, the News Journal asked the mayor's office to speak with someone to explain how Hansen's candidacy violated the city's ethics code, but was sent a statement from city spokesman Vernon Stewart.

“This was a decision made by Candidate Hansen," Stewart said in an email. "Further questions regarding his decision can be answered by him.”